PESTILENT FELLOWS
Before his departure Loudon visited Blakely.
"Found a bullet-hole in yore saddle," said Loudon without preliminary.
"Kind o' looks as if Johnny come near bustin' yore mainspring. I ain't
told Johnny--yet. Johnny bein' an impulsive sport he might ventilate
yuh plenty first time he met yuh. Johnny's square. He ain't shootin'
anybody unless he's pretty near certain the other party is a-layin' for
him, an' that bullet I dug out o' yore swell-fork shore makes it look
bad for yuh.
"Yuh needn't look so sour. I got good news for yuh. Yo're goin' to
marry Kate. Well an' good. I wouldn't enjoy downin' her husband
unless I'm crowded. I could 'a' killed yuh a while back, an' I shot
wide on purpose. Next time--but don't let there be any next time.
Just you keep away from me an' Johnny. I'm leavin' the Lazy River
country anyway, but I tell yuh, Sam Blakely, if Johnny Ramsay is
bushwhacked by the 88 I'll come back an' get yuh first card out o' the
box. Kate's husband or not yuh'll go shoutin' home. Understand?"
"So yo're leavin' this country," bristled Blakely. "Yuh'd better.
I'll shoot yuh on sight!"
"Shore yuh feel that way about it?" queried Loudon with suspicious
gentleness.
"I say what I mean as a rule. I'll shoot yuh on sight you ----
rustler."
"All right. Because o' Kate I was willin' to keep paws off, but if
yo're a-honin' to play the hand out, I'll give yuh every chance.
You've got to get well complete first. Take three months. That ought
to be time enough. Three months from to-day I'll ride in to Farewell.
If yo're still feelin' fighty be in town when I hit it."
"I'll be there," Blakely assured him.
When Loudon had bidden Johnny Ramsay good-bye, he went out and mounted
Ranger and rode away with Jack Richie.
"I'm goin' away from here, Jack," said Loudon, after Richie had
discussed in profane detail the 88's endeavour to discredit him.
"I thought yuh was goin' to work for me?" exclaimed Richie in surprise.
"I was, but somethin's happened since then. I'm kind o' sick o' the
Lazy River country. I need a change."
"Well, you know best. But----"
"I know what yo're thinkin'. If I go now the 88 will think I've quit
cold. Let 'em think it. I don't care. But I'll be back. I made an
appointment with Blakely to meet him in Farewell three months from
to-day."
"That's good hearin'. But I'm shore sorry you ain't goin' to ride for
me."
"So'm I."
"Stay over to-night anyway. Yuh ain't in any howlin' rush to get away,
are yuh?"
"No, I ain't so hurried. I dunno where I'll head--north, maybe."
"If yo're goin' north, why don't yuh try Scotty Mackenzie? He owns the
Flyin' M horse ranch over beyond Paradise Bend. There's three or four
good cow ranches near the Bend--the Seven Lazy Seven, the Wagon-wheel,
the Two Bar, an' the T V U."
"Maybe I will hit the Bend."
"If yuh do," pursued Richie, "yuh might stop an' say howdy at Cap'n
Burr's. He married my sister, Burr did, an' all yuh got to do is say
yuh know me, an' they'll give yuh the house. I guess, though, yuh know
Cap'n Burr yoreself."
"Shore I do. It was the Cap'n who put me on to buyin' Ranger here. He
kept tellin' me about this amazin' good cayuse over at the 88, an'
finally I went over, liked his looks, an' bought him. The Cap'n was at
the 88 the day I took the hoss away. He'd just freighted in a bunch o'
stuff Blakely'd ordered. Cap'n Burr does a powerful lot o' business."
"Don't he now. Yuh wouldn't think tin-peddlin' would pay so well. Oh,
him an' his little old team o' blues shore glom onto the coin."
When Loudon rode into Farewell on the following day he saw half-a-dozen
88 cow-ponies hitched to the rail in front of the Palace Saloon.
"Now that's cheerful," said Loudon. "For a peaceable feller I shore do
tie in with trouble a heap."
He turned aside at the hotel and tapped the landlord awake. At sight
of Loudon Bill Lainey's eyes opened to their fullest extent and his red
face turned purple with excitement.
"Say," huskily whispered Lainey, "Shorty Simms, Rudd, Dakota Riley, an'
three more o' the 88 boys are in town. They're tankin' up down in the
Palace. Rudd's yowlin' round how he's goin' to drill yuh. He's a heap
peevish, Rudd is. I guess now yuh must 'a' riled him somehow, Tom."
"I guess maybe I did, Bill. I'll take a little walk down to the Palace
after I eat. Thanks for the warnin'. Feed the little hoss, will yuh,
Bill?"
"Shore. Go on in an' holler for Lize."
While Loudon was eating, a wiry, brisk little man with a white beard
entered the dining room.
"How are yuh, Cap'n?" grinned Loudon.
Captain Burr, surprise and embarrassment in his steel-blue eyes,
advanced and gripped Loudon's hand.
"Loudon! By ----, suh!" he exclaimed. "This is indeed a pleasuh!"
The tin-peddler slid into a chair and cleared his throat several times.
"I feah, suh," he said, shamefacedly, "that I have trespassed on youah
prese'ves. Had I known that you were in town I would have stayed my
hand."
"Why? What?" queried Loudon.
"Well, suh, I'll tell you the whole story. It's sho't. Twenty minutes
ago I ente'ed the Palace Saloon. While drinking at the bah I could not
help but overheah the conve'sation of half-a-dozen 88 cowboys. One of
them, a man named Rudd, mentioned youah name and called you a rustlah.
"You, Tom, are my friend, and, since I was unaware that you were in
town, I felt that I could not stand idly by. I info'med this Rudd
person that traducing the absent was not the act of a gentleman. I
also called him a ---- scoundrel and a liah to boot. He took exception
to my wo'ds and, I was fo'ced to shoot him.
"You unde'stand, Tom, that I acted in complete good faith. I believed
you to be at the Bah S. Otherwise, I should have repo'ted the mattah
to you. Of co'se, I would have stood at youah back while you shot the
rascal. His ruffianly friends ah not to be trusted."
"Don't apologize, Cap'n," said Loudon, and he reached across the table
and shook hands again.
Captain Burr appeared to be greatly comforted at Loudon's ready
acceptance of his explanation, and he attacked his beef and beans with
appetite.
The captain was a good deal of a mystery to the folk with whom he came
in contact. His mode of speech and his table manners were not those of
ordinary men. But he was a man, with all that the name implies, and as
such they had learned to accept him. I employ "learned" advisedly.
Certain unthinking individuals had, when the captain was a comparative
stranger in that region, commented upon his traits and received a
prompt and thorough chastening.
Captain Burr gained thereby an enviable reputation. In reality there
was no mystery attached to the old tin-peddler. He had simply been
born a gentleman.
"Did Rudd die?" inquired Loudon in a tone of studied casualness, when
he had finished his meal.
"He did not," replied the Captain. "Unless blood-poisoning sets in he
will live to be hung. My bullet broke his ahm. He rode away with his
comrades five minutes lateh. No doubt he was in some pain, but the
rogue was suffering much less than he dese'ved. I realize that I
should have killed him, of co'se, but as I grow oldeh I find myself
becoming soft-heahted. Time was--but one must not dwell in the past.
These beans ah excellent, Tom."
"They are. Pullin' out soon?"
"At once. I'm bound no'th. I intend to visit all the ranches between
heah and Paradise Bend. I hope to be home in two weeks. Ah you
travelling my way?"
"Yep. I guess I'm bound for the Bend, too."
"Then I will ask you to deliveh a letteh to my wife. I missed the Bend
stage by two houahs to-day, and theah is no otheh fo' three days."
Loudon took the letter and placed it carefully in the inside pocket of
his vest.
While Captain Burr was harnessing his team, a job in which the
tin-peddler always refused assistance, Loudon rode down the street with
the intention of buying tobacco at the Blue Pigeon Store. In front of
the Happy Heart Saloon, opposite the Palace Dance Hall, stood Sheriff
Block and five citizens.
As Loudon rode past the sheriff made a low-voiced remark and laughed
loudly. Instantly the five citizens burst into cackles. For Block,
besides being sheriff, owned both the Palace and the Happy Heart.
Hence most of Farewell's inhabitants took their cue from him.
The cachination in front of the Happy Heart grated on Loudon's feelings
as well as his ear-drums. He knew that the sheriff, kindly soul, was
holding him up to ridicule. Kate's refusal of him had made Loudon
somewhat reckless. He had intended having it out with Rudd, but
Captain Burr had forestalled him there. Here, however, was the sheriff
of the county, another enemy. Loudon turned his horse.
Promptly the five friends oozed in various directions. Sheriff Block,
a lonely figure, held his ground.
"I hear yo're lookin' for me," announced Loudon, a laughing devil in
his gray eyes.
"Who told yuh?" queried the sheriff, puzzled. He had expected
something totally different.
"Who told me? Oh, several little birds. So I want to find out about
it. I wouldn't like to put yuh to any trouble--such as huntin' me up,
for instance."
"That's good o' yuh. But I ain't lookin' for yuh, not yet."
"I'm right glad to hear that. Them little birds must 'a' lied.
Powerful lot o' lyin' goin' on in the world, ain't there?"
"I dunno nothin' about it," mumbled the sheriff, who was becoming more
and more puzzled at the apparently aimless words of the puncher.
"Don't yuh?" grinned Loudon. "That's shore hard to believe."
The sheriff warily refused to take offence, and mumbled unintelligibly.
"Forget that afternoon in the draw west o' Little Bear Mountain?"
relentlessly pursued Loudon. "We had some words--remember? Yuh said
somethin' about me havin' the drop. I ain't got the drop now. My
hands are on the horn. Yore's are hooked in yore belt. But I'll lay
yuh two to one I bust yuh plumb centre before yuh can pull. Take me
up?"
Loudon's lips were smiling, but his eyes stared with a disconcerting
gray chilliness into the small black eyes of Sheriff Block. The
officer's eyelids wavered, winked, and Block shifted his gaze to
Loudon's chin.
"I ain't startin' no gun-play for nothin'," said Block with finality.
Loudon held up a ten-dollar gold piece.
"Two to one," he urged.
But the sheriff perceived that the hand holding the gold piece was
Loudon's left hand, and he could not quite screw his courage to the
sticking-point. Block was ordinarily brave enough, but he was bad, and
as a rule there is at least one individual whom the bad man fears. And
Block feared Loudon.
The sheriff's mean and vicious spirit writhed within him. He hated
Loudon, hated him for his cocksureness, for his easy fearlessness. He
would have sold his soul to the devil in return for the ability to
reach for his gun. The sheriff licked his lips.
Loudon, still smiling, continued to hold aloft the gold piece. The
onlookers--half of Farewell by this time--awaited the outcome in tense
silence.
Suddenly the sheriff shook his shoulders, spat on the sidewalk,
wheeled, and entered the Happy Heart.
Loudon flipped the gold piece into the air, caught it, and returned it
to his vest-pocket. Without a glance at the keenly disappointed
populace, he turned Ranger and loped to the Blue Pigeon Store.
When he emerged, followed by the bawled "Good lucks!" of the
proprietor, Captain Burr was waiting. The tin-peddler's face was grave
but his steel-blue eyes were twinkling with suppressed merriment.
"Well, suh----" chuckled the captain, when they were out of earshot of
the Farewell citizens--"well, suh, you ce'tainly talked to that
sheriff. Lord, Tom, it made me laugh. I didn't know that Block was so
lacking in honah and spo'ting spirit. I fully expected to witness
quite a ruction."
"I wasn't lookin' for a fight," disclaimed Loudon. "I knowed Block
wouldn't pull. It was safe as takin' pie from a baby."
"I'm not so shuah," doubted Captain Burr. "Any reptile is mighty
unce'tain. And this reptile had friends. I was watching them. My
Spenceh seven-shooteh was ready fo' action. You Rob'et E. Lee hoss,
pick up youah feet! Well, I'm glad it ended peacefully. My wife and
daughteh, as I may have mentioned, do not approve of fighting. They
cannot realize how necessa'y it becomes at times. It would be well, I
think, when you reach the Bend, to refrain from mentioning my little
disagreement with Rudd. My family might heah of it, and--but you
unde'stand, don't you, Tom?"
"'Course, I do, Cap'n," heartily concurred Loudon. "I won't say a
word."
"Thank you."
Captain Burr fell silent. Suddenly he began to laugh.
"Po' Farewell," he chuckled. "Theah will be some powdeh bu'nt befo'
the day is out."
"How?"
"Block. His pride has had a fall. Quite a few saw the tumble. An
o'dina'y man would tuck his tail between his legs and go elsewheah.
But the sheriff is not an o'dina'y man. He's too mean. In order to
reinstate himself in the affections of the townspeople he will feel
compelled to shoot one of them. Mahk my wo'ds, theah will be trouble
in the smoke fo' Farewell."
"It can stand it. Outside o' Mike Flynn, an' Bill Lainey an' his wife,
there ain't a decent two-legged party in the whole place."
Captain Burr nodded and turned an appreciative eye on Ranger.
"That chestnut hoss ce'tainly does please me," he said. "I wish I'd
bought him myself. I do indeed."